Page 30 of Mafia Scars
With his eyes blazing, jaw tight, skin red, so red it made his blond hair look stark, he frowned and hissed at me. That was the best way I could describe the sound that came out of his mouth.
“What are you doing?” he growled.
“What do you mean?” I shot back. It was a stupid throwback because I knew full well what he meant.
“Amelia, internal affairs have been looking for Luc for weeks, and here you are, shacked up with him. Have you known where he was all this time? You… allowed him to escape, didn’t you?” His eyes grew to saucers.
“I did not.” My fists balled at my side. “Last night was the first time I’ve seen him since that day.”
“Last night.” His mouth spread into a thin line, and he frowned with fury. Expression hard, a mask of stone. “I came to apologize for last night. I came to apologize for kissing you, but I see that you just left me to hop in bed with Luc.”
Heat flushed my cheeks, and my heart and stomach clenched at the same time. I didn’t need this shit right now. In fact, I didn’t need it, full stop. Not now or ever.
“You know what?” I folded my arms under my breasts. “You need to back off and leave me alone. I can’t stand this anymore, you constantly trying to get with me when you know how I feel.”
He narrowed his gaze now. I’d been harsh with him, but not like that. I’d never voiced the way I felt like that.
“You know what?” he borrowed my own words. “You’ve never been quite direct in telling me how you felt, and kissing me doesn’t exactly help. It never says back off.”
I wanted to defend myself, but words escaped me. What could I say to that? Last night wasn’t the first kiss. It was the second. It was the one I’d stopped because of Luc.
That first kiss, which happened last year, was what had given him hope. I was drunk, but it didn’t excuse my behavior. I’d full-on made out with him, and there was nothing left to question about my actions.
Why did I do that?
I’d gotten drunk off my face because I didn’t want to feel the loss I still felt for my mother. It had been the anniversary of her death. Somehow, this year felt unbearable.
It was a Saturday. Max had a barbeque at his house and somehow, I ended up sucking face with Sinclaire because I probably wanted to feel something other than that soul-sucking loss.
“I’m sorry if I’ve given you the wrong idea. I just want us to be friends. That’s all. I don’t want to hurt you. You deserve someone who can be more than what I am, and who can feel more for you than what I have felt.”
“Because you’d rather be with a criminal than with me?” He nodded.
“It’s not like that.”
“What is it like? Luc’s a criminal, and you barely know him. We just know that he’s been using dead people’s details for God knows how long. It’s enough, but he could be capable of anything else. Plus, he was clearly the rat in our group. In my eyes he was working with Montgomery.”
I groaned inwardly. Of course, it would seem that way. Roose probably allowed everyone to think that. I hadn’t mentioned Luc since he left, and the guys knew not to talk about him with me. They knew I’d been dating him. They knew he’d left and the reasons for that.
End of story.
Although I was certain Sinclaire had a thing or two to say in my absence.
“I’m not going to talk about that with you. It’s not true. He isn’t working with Montgomery.”
“Did he tell you that?”
“Sinclaire, let’s just drop this. I’m done here.”
He nodded again. This time with more purpose. “Yeah, I’m done too. I’m done.”
That final remark told me that he was done with me. Not just the conversation.
“I’ll do you a favor and not call this in. I won’t say that I saw Luc here with you, reason being that I think you’re deluded. And, clearly, you have issues you need to work out. But that’s it, Taylor. I’m done with you. I hope you know what you’re doing. The worst kind of cop is a dirty one. I can’t be friends with you knowing what you’re doing is wrong. So, good luck.”
That wasn’t the way I’d imagined saying goodbye to him.
I guessed, though, that with all that had happened between us, there wasn’t any other way that this could go.